Glitterbug
by Pyral
Summary: Glitter is the modern day bedbug. It sticks in your hair, your clothes, you find it weeks after. It's ridiculous.


"Hey Kendra."

Kendra looked up from her writing book. Seth was hanging upside down off the edge of his bed, a thoughtful look on his face.

"What's up?"

"What do you think our auras look like?"

Kendra set down her pencil. "Not sure. Mine's really bright, yours is probably darker. Why?"

Seth shrugged, nearly fell, and scrambled to keep himself from thumping to the floor. "I don't know," he said once he finally repositioned himself. "Curiosity? Like, the type that won't get me killed."

"Bracken said aura-gazing is difficult." She thoughtfully tapped her fingers. "And it's impossible to see your own aura, only the effects of it. Like me seeing in the dark."

"Oh. Alright," Seth said glumly. "It would be handy to be able to recognize what... like... dark creatures look like."

Kendra looked over. "Hey now, are you getting self-conscious?"

Seth almost went to shrug again but caught himself. "I don't know. I mean... you remember that wind spirit last week?"

Now Kendra's attention was caught. She got up and sat down a couple feet in front of her brother. "The one that just got transferred to Fablehaven?"

"Yeah. Her."

Kendra remembered. She and Seth had run into the new wind spirit at the pond, where the hamadryads and satyrs had all been introducing themselves to her. When Seth and Kendra had approached, she had gone stock-still and quietly asked Seth if he was a demon. After enough reassuring they had convinced her otherwise, but Seth had clearly been stung.

"Hey, that's... that's not your fault, it's just a stupid mistake," Kendra tried. "She didn't know. No one's seen a shadow charmer in ages, you're something new and wonderful to them!"

"I guess." Seth scratched at his ear. "Maybe there are differences between demon and shadow charmer auras that I could make clearer."

Kendra rubbed her cheek. "I don't know. Maybe. I could ask Bracken for you, if you'd like."

"Yeah!" Seth broke into a grin. "Go ask your boyfriend for me."

Kendra pushed him, and he slid to the floor with a thud. "Haha. Keep an attitude like that and I won't ask him a thing."

—

Talking to Bracken had yielded nothing. Tanu didn't have anything to offer. Even Elise, who had a plethora of random knowledge from random places, didn't have a single idea. So now Kendra was laying back on the couch, wondering how she would nicely tell Seth that there was nothing they could do. She didn't want to be the deliverer of bad news, she had done that enough.

"Kendra?"

"Hm?" Oh no, and Seth was coming down the stairs. "Oh, hey."

"Hey. So, what'd Bracken say?"

"Um." Kendra thought for a second. "He said he might be able to teach you a few basic spells."

"Wait, really?" Seth brightened. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah!" Kendra sat up, taking the opportunity to not immediately disappoint him. "He said that you should be able to practice some! He wants to start next time he visits."

"That's so cool!" Seth clapped his hands. "Maybe I could figure out fire or shadow or something really epic! Maybe I won't even need a physical weapon anymore, I could just use magic like you!" He paused. "What about the other thing? The aura thing?"

Kendra sighed. Yeah, there was no dodging this.

"Sorry, Bracken doesn't think there's anything he can do." Kendra patted him on the shoulder. "But hey, I'm sure it'll be okay! Most people end up liking your personality anyways. Other than the centaurs."

"Yeah, alright." Seth smiled, but he still looked disappointed.

"Okay," Kendra said.

There was a depressing silence.

"I'm... gonna head upstairs and draw a bit," Seth said. "Uh. See ya."

"See ya."

As soon as Seth was gone, Kendra flopped back onto the couch. She _hated_ being the bearer of bad news, especially when she couldn't do anything to cheer the other up.

She spent a while lying there before Elise leaned over the couch and grinned at her. "Heyo. Wanna make art?"

"Art?" Kendra sat up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." With a slightly devilish cackle, Elise showed off an A.C. Moore bag. "I got art supplies! I'll admit, I binged a bit more than I meant to. But it'll be worth it!" She started rustling through her stuff. "Pencils, a canvas, some paints..."

Kendra smiled and nodded. Elise had always been a crazy art fanatic—the type to douse herself in paint and roll around on paper just for the aesthetic.

"...Glue, glitter... ooh! Markers! I forgot I grabbed these."

"Geez, Elise," laughed Kendra. "Are you broke now?"

"Probably." Elise thoughtfully examined a bottle of glitter. "I think I bought too much of this. I mean, I use glitter a lot, but not so much red glitter. Here," she tossed it to Kendra, "make something pretty. Make me proud."

"Um."

"Cool! Show me when you're done!" Elise excitedly peered into her bag of tricks again. "I'll catch ya later. I got a date with a canvas and some markers. And Mara. Hopefully."

Kendra couldn't help but feel her heart lift at Elise's happiness. "Alright," she replied. "I'll show you what I make."

"That's the spirit!" Elise grinned. "Have fun with it. Though please don't do it in the living room. Ruth'll kill me."

"Yikes. Yeah. I'll head upstairs. See ya!"

Elise skipped off to create God-knows-what, and Kendra headed up the stairs, studying the bottle of glitter. Maybe she could make a collage. Or draw a picture with glue and then cover it with glitter. Something interesting, that was the way to make Elise proud.

Seth was doodling something in his drawing book when Kendra reached the attic. Seth had always stuck to art, and her to writing, but occasionally they switched mediums.

"Hey, do we have any glue?" Kendra asked.

"Glue?" Seth chewed at his pencil. "Maybe in the blue bin, the corner one. Why?"

Kendra rustled around the blue bin, pushing aside random crayons and pieces of felt. "Elise wants me to make something with glitter, so I'm guessing I've gotta go with glue too."

"Glitter? Don't you hate that stuff?"

"A little." Kendra finally found a bottle of glue buried under a pile of paper. "I just don't like how it gets everywhere. If we find glitter up here in a few weeks, I won't be surprised."

"Haha. That stuff's glorious for pranks, I'll say. I'm still finding pieces in my hair after Vanessa gave me that glitter box."

Kendra snorted. "Yeah. I'm finding pieces on the attic floor, luckily they're shiny enough to see..."

She stopped and looked back at her jar on glitter. It caught the sunlight and reflected onto the floor.

"Oh my god," she said. "I know how to help you with the aura problem."

Seth shot to his feet and stumbled forward. "Wait, seriously? Are you playing a joke on me?"

"I'm serious. I think I figured it out..." Kendra popped off the top of the glitter jar and whirled on her brother. " _Glitter shower_!"

Seth shrieked and staggered back, but that didn't help him. "Kendra!" he yelped. "What the _heck_?"

"Tada," Kendra laughed. "Now it's _obvious_ that you're nice."

Seth shook his head and rained sparkles onto the floor. For a second, he looked confused, but then he smirked and flung his arms wide.

"Glitter hug!"

"No!"

"Yes! I'm glitterboy! I'm sparkly and nice! Hugs!"

" _No_!"


End file.
